Spike Jonze? Check. Joaquin Phoenix? Check. Interesting plot that seemed like it was going to be a look at how we humans connect with others in the technology-ridden modern age? Check. The film’s trailer hit a cord inside of me that usually doesn’t get strung. I have been looking forward to seeing this film for several months now, and I finally got around to checking it out.

Synopsis:Her follows Theodore, a complex, soulful man who makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people. Heartbroken after the end of a long relationship, he becomes intrigued with a new, advanced operating system.

The cinematography done by Hoyte Van Hoytema (The Fighter) was simply beautiful. This movie looked very soft and used a lot of pink and red color schemes, which caused it to look very surreal. The production designer, K.K. Barrett (Adaptation), created a world set in the near future, and it feels so authentic that you couldn’t help but think that we are going to be coming to that reality soon.

The screenplay written by Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are) was nothing short of spectacular. He was able to write a story about having a relationship with an artificial intelligence and not succumb to making it a satire. Jonze infused hilarious moments and heartbreaking ones which didn’t counteract each other and that actually worked quite well together.

The story itself tugged at my heartstrings. Hard. It was very touching and I have to admit I did tear up a few times during the film. Unlike a lot of mainstream romance films, none of the elements of a relationship in this movie were whimsical or unrealistic. The story was simply real. The characters went through many struggles that real life couples do. Though this film was heartbreaking, Jonze included quite a bit of comedy, though he did tone it down from the amount usually present in his movies.

Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) plays Theodore, a man suffering from the end of a long relationship with the love of his life. Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation) plays Samantha, a state of the art artificial intelligence that is assigned to Theo. Rooney Mara (The Social Network) plays Catherine, Theo’s ex-wife. Amy Adams (American Hustle) plays Amy, who is one of Theo’s best friends. Phoenix always has puts his heart into the many roles which he has played over the years, and he continues to do so in this film. His performance as Theo was genuine and real. I could really feel his pain, and his joy. Johansson does great work here, not all actors are cut out for voice acting but she sure his. Amy Adams’ took a huge turn here from her usual typecast roles and that impressed me very much.

One of my favorite aspects of this film was Theo’s job as a personal letter writer. It is a sad, hard truth. We as a society have become more and more dependent on technology. I think that this element of the film is a very subtle poke at where society is heading in the future. We are slowly losing the personal touch that makes us all human. I know people who would rather chat over text than in person. I really could see the reality of Her becoming ours.

Another aspect of the movie I enjoyed was how it was able to convey thought to audiences. There were many scenes where the audience was brought into the main characters mind and it’s the most accurate way I’ve seen thought being portrayed on screen.

Her is an internally and externally beautiful film. Theo’s story is so true and human that I think it is impossible to go through this film without tearing up at least once. This is easily one of the best films that were released in 2013. Between the writing, performances, direction, cinematography I could not think of one aspect that I didn’t enjoy. If you have not seen this movie yet, I recommend checking it out.

When the preview trailer for Enemy was released, I knew the second after I watched it that I had to see this film. It looked very different than the majority of movies that were coming out and the involvement of Director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners) helped peak my interest. Plus I thought I just had to support a fellow Canadian!

Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko) played both main characters, Adam and Anthony. Adam was a college professor and Anthony was a small rate actor, both located in the Greater Toronto Area. Gyllenhaal did a great job at portraying two different people. He changed his mannerism and body language for each character so it was easy to tell them apart. Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds) played Mary, Adam’s girlfriend. Sarah Gordon (Belle) played Helen, Anthony’s wife. Both Gordon and Laurent gave fine performances and went all out with their roles witch in this day and age is admirable.

The cinematography done by Nicolas Bolduc (Rebelle) was different and unique. He was able to get some great overhead shots of Toronto and its suburbs that contributed to the overall eerie tone of the film. The gold-tinged color of the film worked very well in my opinion, which again added to the creepy feel this movie successfully had. Enemy was a very visual film and some of the hints to figuring out the puzzle that was the plot were hidden in the cinematography.

The story of Enemy was very intriguing. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. As the movie went along, I wanted to know more and more what was really happening. And then just as I thought I was going to get the satisfaction of a fantastic ending to a chilling film, it ended. I don’t think that I’ve ever been left with so many unanswered questions at the end of a film before. Now there are a lot of theories online explaining the movie’s intention. But I just haven’t been able to settle on an explanation yet. For every theory out there, there is something in the film that can discredit it. Screenwriter Javier Gullón (Hierro) could have and should have left us with at least one viable explanation. However, Enemy is based on a novel called The Double, written by José Saramago. Maybe it has an equally strange ending?

Like I mentioned earlier, this movie looked a lot different than other film offerings available from the trailer alone. And indeed it was. It took leaps and bounds that many films don’t, and props should be given to Director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners) for trying what he did. I always appreciate creative people who break through the norms.

My review of Enemy is short, but so was its running time. As a viewer, I wish I were given a better understanding of the meaning of this film. I do enjoy it when movies have layers and lead me into different directions, but I was lead a bit to far astray here. If you are looking for something different, Enemy is for you. Though I will warn you, you will be left scratching your head.

Michael Bay has been at it again with his mindless, nonsensical Transformers film franchise and we moviegoers, like always, have flocked to see it. You’d think we would have learned our lesson by now. I myself went into Transformers: Age of Extinction hoping that Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci might be able to save it with their presence. I forgot that the people in front of the camera are only as good as the people behind them.

This movie was one of the few films to actually give me a headache. With a running time of two hours and forty-five minutes, it’s the longest of the franchise. Its length is completely unnecessary. This film could have easily been an hour shorter. But no, Director Michael Bay (Pain & Gain) wanted to put in as many explosions as he could. By the end of the movie, my head was pounding from frustration and my want for the film’s overlong final action scene to be over. But I shouldn’t completely blame this train-wreck of a film on him. It’s the writer who should share half the blame of this abomination.

Screenwriter Ehren Kruger (Scream 3) has been the writer of this franchise from the beginning. Why they didn’t replace him after the first installment, I don’t know. The dialogue throughout the franchise has been mediocre at best with a few good lines per movie, but the dialogue spoken by the actors in this film took a turn for the worse if you can believe it. The usual sexism and racism of the franchise runs rampant in this movie.

The story was beyond terrible. Now it’s fine for a movie to have subplots in addition to a main one. But this film had three main plots! It was basically three stories pushed into one film. It’s as if the Screenwriter, Kruger, didn’t know what direction to go in for this film and decided that no matter how bad the story, people will go see the film so he included all three plots. None of them felt really finished by the time the characters moved onto the next event. It didn’t make any sense and I left the movie scratching my head. What a mess.

Like I mentioned earlier, the principle reason for me wanting to see this film was the inclusion of Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci, two newcomers for the franchise. Mark Wahlberg (Boogie Nights) played Cade Yeager, a down on his luck inventor living in rural Texas. Nicola Peltz (The Last Airbender) plays Tessa Yeager, a stereotypical teenage movie daughter. Jack Reynor (Delivery Man) plays Shane Dyson, Tessa’s obnoxious boyfriend. Stanley Tucci (The Hunger Games) plays Joshua Joyce, an evil defense contractor. Now I can’t say this for Peltz or Reynor, but Tucci and Wahlberg are both respectful actors. But they may have just possibly given their worst performances here. Now it’s not really their fault, they were given a terrible script with one-dimensional characters and barely any intelligent dialogue.

Now for the computer generated characters. Peter Cullen (Transformers) voiced Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. Mark Ryan (Black Sails) voiced Lockdown, an intergalactic bounty hunter. John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) and Frank Welker (Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted) make up the supporting voice actors as Hound, Drift, and Galvatron. I don’t think I would care if any one of them got turned into scrap metal. That’s how weak these characters are. The creative team of this film should watch this year’s movie, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, for some pointers on how to create computer-generated characters that you can care about.

The only good thing about this film was the visual effects. All the alien technology, Transformers, and destruction looked very, very real. I just wish that the action sequences were just as good. I usually enjoy the amount of action that this movie franchise brings to the table. But this time around, I ended up being annoyed by how long these sequences went on for. And the worst part about it was that it seemed like they were fighting for nothing. The story was so confusing I forgot why these giant heaps of metal were fighting each other.

Michael Bay makes these movies for two reasons: to fill his pockets with our money and to fulfill some weird fetish of explosions. I don’t think that I’ll be returning to the theatre to watch the next Transformers film unless of course, a new creative team is behind the next installment. I’ve learned my lesson and that is this: as long as Bay is behind the camera and Kruger is holding the pen, it doesn’t matter who is starring in the film. I recommend all of you to stay away from Transformers: Age of Extinction.

One night, twelve straight hours where no emergency services, and all crime is legal. What a premise. I’ve grown tired of recent horror flicks; barely any have original or interesting plots anymore. But as good as the premise is, was The Purge executed well?

I’ve found for me personally, what can make or break a horror film are the characters and how they react and take action to the events surrounding them.

Now let me tell you, Ethan Hawke (Before Midnight) did great as James Sadin. He was cocky, he boasts about his achievements, but he also cares deeply about his family. He will do anything to protect his family from harm, and let me tell you, I was rooting for him the entire time. The villain of the film, Polite Stranger, played by Rhys Wakefield (Sanctum), was menacing. Now Polite Stranger wouldn’t be in anyone’s list of top movie villains, nor should he be. But there was a coolness to his character that I enjoyed.

The rest of the main characters, I had huge issues with. James Sadin’s wife, Mary, played by Lena Headey (300), was a typical unrealistic mother which horror films are plagued with. None of her emotions felt real. Their daughter, Zoey, played by Adelaide Kane (Reign), was your typical teenage girl. Boy issues, not wanting to listen to her dad, the whole works. However we did see a moment of courage in her at one point of the film, but that didn’t make up for her problems.

Charlie, James and Mary’s son, played by Max Burkholder (Parenthood), did have a few redeeming qualities. Early on he was quirky and different from how the majority of teenage boys are portrayed. However, he didn’t care about his family whatsoever. I felt as if he was out to get them. The way Charlie acted was so unrealistic it wasn’t even funny.

The world The Purge takes place in is great. It opens up a lot of sick, disgusting opportunities for a skilled screenwriter. But does this movie explore the world The Purge exists in? No. The majority of the film takes place in the Sadin’s family home, which is a total waste of potential.

I have a strange feeling this was more of a budget issue than a creative decision. With such an interesting premise, wouldn’t the creative team want to explore the events of The Purge? With only three million dollars to play with, the team who put together this movie must have been limited to shooting primarily in a single household.

The director and screenwriter of this film, James DeMonaco (The Negotiator), inserted a political message into The Purge. With this movie, he was commenting on societies violent nature as of late. His message may get people discussing violence and gun control or it may just get lost in the wind. James seemed to want to make a huge moral statement. Too bad he didn’t focus more on the quality of his film.

I was hopeful that this movie may turn out to be good, and that my expectations set by the spectacular premise may be met. But they weren’t. However I was glad that this film was made. With the budget being three million dollars, and Universal Studio’s take from the box office eighty-nine million dollars and some change, I’m hoping this may pave the way for production studios to pick up smaller budget films.

The sequel to The Purge, The Purge: Anarchy, came out this past weekend, on July 18th. So far the sequel looks like everything everyone wanted The Purge to be. The Purge is your average home invasion thriller, surrounded by many typically incompetent characters.

First off, I’d like to say I’m a huge fan of the 1968 film Planet of the Apes. So, of course, I wanted to check out the newest entry in the franchise. The Apes films have had some tough times and even though 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a good film, it had some issues that kept it from being great. So going into the film this weekend, I had high expectations for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Man the titles for these films are long.

Jason Clarke (The Great Gatsby) and Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight Trilogy) play Malcolm and Dreyfus respectfully, founders of a community in a ruined San Francisco. Keri Russell (August Rush) plays Ellie, Malcolm’s resourceful wife and Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In) plays Alexander, Ellie and Malcolm’s son. On the ape’s side of things, Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Ring Trilogy) returns as Caesar, the first of his kind and leader of the apes. Toby Kebbell (Wrath of the Titans) plays Koba, the disgruntled ape under Caesar’s command. Nick Thurston (Not for Human Consumption) plays Blue Eyes, Caesar’s son who still has lots to learn.

I think I’ll have to start off with what would have probably been on most people’s minds while watching this movie: the special effects. I know, I know. Most films have great special effects nowadays but man, how breathtakingly real do the apes look in this movie. We could see every facial expression, every hair on the ape’s bodies and every drop of blood that left their bodies. And because of the technology used to bring these animals to life, they become real characters that we care about and feel for.

The majority of the film centered on the importance of family and trust. Screenwriter Mark Bomback (The Wolverine) made sure that these themes weren’t forced to forcefully down our throats. I cringed more than a few times at Rise of the Planet of the Apes dialogue, but there weren’t any lines in this movie that caused me to shutter. Bomback did well by keeping the film serious by not adding any unneeded talking ape humor into the screenplay.

Though the main focus was the apes, the human characters were not sacrificed to better the ape’s development. Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) made sure to make use of them appropriately. Doing so, he created a well-rounded film where you don’t just automatically root for the humans. Not all apes were good, and not all humans were bad. Each of the civilizations were only as strong as their weakest link and neither were ruled dominantly by good or bad character.

The sets and locations used to film this movie were spectacular. Now I’m no expert on vegetation, but the overgrown city of San Francisco looked what I would assume a metropolis would look like after years and years of neglect, war and disease. The ape’s home in the forest took some elements from the original 1968 films settlement, but in this film it looked like the first steps towards that.

Finally there is a modern blockbuster that used its title CGI characters well without having to rely on typical human characters. I’m looking at you, Transformers. From the trailers I wasn’t expecting much from this film. But how amazing this movie turned out to be! From beginning to end, I was swallowed and then spit out of Dawn of the Planet of the Ape’s world. It is a huge improvement over its predecessor. If you plan on going out to the theatre, I can’t recommend this film enough!

Tom Cruise is usually right on when picking his starring roles. Recently, it seems that he has wanted to venture further into the science fiction genre. I’m all for that. Cruise has to be one of the last remaining ‘true’ mainstream action stars left. Almost everyone else is using stunt doubles, and it shows. Science Fiction being my favorite genre, Cruise is a welcome addition to the Edge of Tomorrow cast.

This film’s story really shouldn’t work. Without spoiling anything that you don’t already know, it’s about an untrained soldier dying over and over again during a critical battle in the war against an alien race, who gets better each time he is massacred. What could one do to make a full length, engaging film with such a limited spectrum? It took the talent of writer Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) to adapt this concept from the Japanese novel, All You Need Is Kill, written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, to make into the amazing film it is.

Edge of Tomorrow was surprisingly funny! Unlike a lot of serious toned films that implement humor, the jokes here fit perfectly in between the action and darkness of the movie. I have a feeling that if this film had taken itself completely seriously, it wouldn’t have been as enjoyable as it was. McQuarrie knew when to keep things serious and when to throw some humor on the viewer.

But behind the camera, all the credit shouldn’t just be going to Christopher McQuarrie. The film’s director, Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), did an amazing job at squeezing every drop of goodness out of the story. His direction of the action scenes was remarkable. Some of them are still stuck in my head, and that happens very rarely. Props should also be given to cinematographer Dion Beebe (Memoirs of a Geisha). Without a good cinematographer, the action in a film can really be squandered. Beebe knew exactly where the camera had to be to capture all the action in its fullest.

Tom Cruise plays the inexperienced soldier Major William Cage, and let me tell you, his performance here ranks amongst his best. The progression of his character throughout the film from cannon folder to one of the best soldiers this fictional military has was great to witness. His comedic timing was perfect, which helped the humor reach its full potential. Emily Blunt’s character, the Special Forces badass Sergeant Rita Vrataski, nicknamed ‘Full Metal Bitch’, was a great female role model. She was independent, didn’t need to be saved by any ‘superior’ male character, and was given the same amount of respect Cage did, if not more.

The actual designs of the aliens, named Mimics in the film, were very original. They didn’t look like the typical, run of the mill outer space baddies that we see so often now. They were unique and moved in such a way that it was obvious that they weren’t from this world. The ExoSuits featured in the film were very realistically designed and each character had their own uniquely designed suit. These suits allowed the characters to do some pretty spectacular things.

Edge of Tomorrow is one of the best original films to come out in the vast sea of remakes and sequels in recent years. It’s engaging, funny, heartfelt and overall a great time. This film could have easily have been bad, but it luckily had the right cast & crew to make it work. I’m just hoping now that word of mouth has spread enough for this film to be financially successful.

Here we have Liam Nesson, in yet another action movie. Who would have thought? It seems as if he has ditched his career as a dramatic acting career in favor for a more action-packed career, which I am actually okay with. I mean, what kind of baddie would hope to go up against this Irish badass and win?

Non-Stop had a surprisingly great premise. I mean, we’ve all seen our fair share of action flicks that took place 40,000 feet in the air, but we’ve never seen Liam Nesson up that high. Though it had a tense setup and a pretty great first and second act, the third part of the film was where the plot started to falter.

It seems as if the writers didn’t really know how to end the film so they just threw their hands up in the air and ended it like most action movies do. To add to this, when the motive to this whole ordeal was revealed, I was pretty under-whelmed and confused. I can’t say they nailed all the dialogue either. There were some scenes in the film that had some pretty dumb lines.

It was strange to see all the great actors and actresses featured in an action movie like this one. Liam Nesson, who portrayed the alcoholic Air Marshall Bill Marks, was awesome. He can kick some serious butt and act at the same time. That’s somewhat of a rarity these days. The supporting cast includes Julianne Moore, Michelle Dockery, and Lupita Nyong’o. Though they were good in their respected roles, the star here is Nesson.

I really enjoy ‘who-dun-it’ plots from time to time, but usually I can guess who the culprit was before the movie reveals it to me. For once, I wasn’t able to guess who it was. Non-Stop did a fine job at keeping me guessing the whole time. This was key to the movies entertainment value. If it was made apparent to the audience who the villain was and what they were doing, even by using a certain camera angle or look in a person’s eye, this movie wouldn’t have been as enjoyable as it was.

There were actually a few moments in the film that caused me to develop stress and a headache, and I really haven’t decided if this was a good or bad point. Though it was a sign that I really cared about the events going on in the movie, some of the scenes were stressful to the point of where I was wishing they would just end. This only happened one or two times, though.

I can’t say that Non-Stop is a great action film, but it was quite enjoyable. The film had some not so perfect dialogue, and featured a somewhat disappointing final act. But even though it had quite a few flaws, I had a great time with Liam Neeson’s latest action packed outing. It was very tense, and I was caught up in trying to figure out who was the one pulling the strings before the characters in the film could. A word of advice: Don’t watch this one before a flight.